Siheung City Wins Grand Prize at the "Natural Environment Awards"

Restoring the Sihwa Lake Ecosystem and Protecting Endangered Species
Achievements in Habitat Creation for Black-faced Spoonbills and Ecological Restoration

Siheung City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 28th that it received the Grand Prize (Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Award) at the 25th Natural Environment Awards ceremony, which was held on the 27th at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul.

On the 27th, at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, a representative from Siheung City is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Grand Prize at the 25th Natural Environment Awards ceremony. Provided by Siheung City

This award, organized by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Korea Ecological Restoration Association, recognizes outstanding organizations in areas such as ecological restoration, habitat creation, and environmental policy.

The city explained that it was highly praised for its achievements in restoring the Sihwa Lake ecosystem and protecting endangered migratory birds through the "Sihwa Lake Black-faced Spoonbill Habitat Creation Project."

This project, as part of the Ministry of Environment's Ecological Conservation Charge Refund Project last year, established an 18,200-square-meter habitat for black-faced spoonbills on an artificial island in Sihwa Lake to strengthen the ecology of the Sihwa MTV migratory bird area. The city undertook initiatives such as removing invasive plants, creating nesting sites, restricting access and designating protected zones, and implementing continuous monitoring using CCTV.

As a result of the project, the target species-the black-faced spoonbill-was observed to have settled and bred again in Sihwa Lake in April of this year. This was recognized as a case of achieving visible ecological restoration outcomes in a short period of time.

In particular, the city, in cooperation with the Sihwa Lake Sustainable Partnership, established a region-based ecological management model by linking habitat monitoring and eco-environmental education programs, enabling participation from both citizens and local experts.

A city official stated, "Taking this award as an opportunity, we will continue to realize a sustainable eco-friendly city by expanding the ecological restoration project for the Sihwa Lake migratory bird area and linking it with environmental education."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.